Navigation

George Condon, Jr., discussed the Randy "Duke" Cunningham case and Washington corruption. Part of the team of four who won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing Congressman Cunningham's acceptance of bribes in exchange for favors to defense contractors, Condon explained to Club members during an October 24 lunch at the National Press Club how Cunningham became embroiled in corruption. According to Condon, no Congressman in the nation's history has taken so much ($2.4 million) in bribery, not even excluding the horrendous Credit Mobilier scandal of the 1870s and figuring in inflation. The Cunningham misdeeds reached even into the CIA -- Dustin Foggo, the recently resigned executive director, is under indictment stemming from the Cunningham-related crimes.

Legal Times’ July 16 issue named Bruce Sanford of Baker Hostetler one of the top ten communications lawyers in Washington. Bruce was awarded the Club’s Harold Hitz Burton Award for Distinguished Public Service in January of this year.

Legal Times pointed out that Bruce has defended more than a thousand First Amendment and intellectual property cases, representing Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, John Grisham, The New York Times, and the ABC Company among others. A ten-page petition Bruce once wrote to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit resulted in a majority two judges reversing their earlier decision in the case, a highly unusual occurence.

The August 31 Plain Dealer and News Herald reported that former Cleveland Congressman Charles A. Vanik passed away at age 94 from natural causes at his home in Jupiter, Fla. Charley Vanik served 26 years in Congress representing the 21st Congressional District (Cleveland's East Side) from 1955 to 1969, and then the 22nd District from 1969 to his retirement in 1981. When his 21st District became majority Afro-American population, he gave up his seat so that Louis Stokes could run for his seat in Congress. Charley then ran against Congresswoman Frances Bolton in 1968 and won her seat in Congress representing the 22nd District (Eastern suburbs of Cleveland).

Fifteen Club members toured the U. S. Capitol on July 11 with Steve Livengood, the chief guide of the U. S. Capitol Historical Society. The tour was arranged by member Mike Eck; three special guests were staff members from the Embassy of Slovenia.

Livengood began the 2 1/2 hour tour in the Hart Senate Office Building where several models of the early Capitol are on display. He reminded his listeners that the Capitol was designed in the early republic by amateurs, that its architecture was meant to embody some of the principles of the government only recently established (equal balance to each chamber of the legislature, for example), and that the building was purposefully placed at a higher elevation than the home for the chief executive.

Chris Antonetti, the assistant general manager of the Cleveland Indians, met with approximately 50 Cleveland Club Indians fans before the Indians game at RFK Stadium in Washington, D. C.

Antonetti talked above the stadium batting practice music for 30 minutes answering questions about the Indians and major league baseball in general. He told Club members that he thought the Indians' hitting was on track and that the farm teams were doing well. He noted that the Indians are looking for a left-handed relief pitcher.

Celebrated journalist and CWRU professor Ted Gup told the Club June 6 that secrecy was becoming more endemic in American life and harming it in the process. Gup spoke to 25 members at the National Press Club about the research and findings that went into his new book Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life, recently published by Doubleday.

Gup said that he became interested in the abuse of secrecy when researching an earlier work Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives (2001). “I saw abuses of secrecy, and I wanted to investigate. Then came 9/11 and the culture of secrecy increased.”

The Club met January 23 at the law offices of Baker & Hostetler on Connecticut Ave., N. W., in Washington to present its 50th Anniversary Year Harold Hitz Burton Award to Bruce W. Sanford. Bruce is one of the nationâ€™s preeminent attorneys on the First Amendment, libel and media law.

We all knew it anyway, but Cleveland ranks as one of the most literate cities in the nation. Taking into account such factors as branch libraries per capita, volumes per capita, library book circulation per capita, Cleveland ranks 14th. Cleveland ranks 1st in library support, holdings and utilization. See the Central Connecticut State University study at www.ccsu.edu/amlc06/Library/top10.htm

Since March 20th, 1957, the Cleveland Club of Washington D.C. has hosted over one hundred gatherings, mainly luncheons, featuring such honored speakers as George Szell, Anthony J. Celebrezze, Frank J. Lausche, George V. Voinovich, and Harold H. Burton, to name but a few. As the club prepares to celebrate the 50th year bringing together Washington men and women who share a keen interest in Cleveland, we share some highlights from our past, and encourage members to make suggestions of speakers and activities for the future. Please feel free to contact club president Brooke Stoddard with your suggestions for the future, as you enjoy these reflections from the past.